FOOD NEWS EU WARNS NIGERIA OVER FOOD INSECURITY The European Union has warned Nigeria over ‎a possible future food insecurity challenge and insurgency due to the high demographic growth rate in the Northern part of the country.

Head of Operations, EU Delegation to Nigeria, Mr. Brian O’ Neil explained that the demographic growth in the Northern part of Nigeria has a growth rate of 3 per cent which doubles every 20 years, maintaining that if Nigeria cannot feed its teeming population now, the situation is likely to get much worse.

O’ Neil sounded this warning during the 3rd EU-Nigeria business forum tagged “Time for Private Sector”‎ in Lagos.

‎ According to him, “The population of Northern Nigeria doubles every 20 years. If we have a major food security issue today, it is going to get much worse.

He stressed the need to concentrate on the multi-sector approach.

He added that the m‎alnutrition rate and mortality rate are both abnormally high in northern Nigeria, stressing that UNICEF estimates that over 1 million children under 2 years of age are currently at high risk of acute malnutrition in northern Nigeria.

According to him, ‎farmers are becoming increasingly aware of the extra revenue that comes from better crops, stating that most of the essential ingredients such as micro nutrients ‎to fortify foods can be found in the country.